Saturday, April 28, 2012

During the Thomasville, Georgia Rose Festival, on Friday the streets belong to the Rose parade. On Saturday morning, though, the streets belong to the Rose City Run 10K--which means that they belong to Chris Lake. Lake won the annual 6.2-mile race for the third straight year on Saturday, April 28, demolishing the field with a 32:59. Sheryl Rosen won the women's division with a 36:51, the fastest time run by a woman at Rose City since 2001.

The Rose City Run is a race of traditions. The course hasn't changed for 35 years, and the runners always gather near the Big Oak after the race. You can expect to hear the band playing near the four-mile mark, and to find a local disc jockey half a mile from the finish line exhorting runners to overextend themselves on the climb up "Heartbreak Hill." Dr. Jim Story's final instructions to the runners have become traditional. "I'll call, 'On you marks, get set,' and when the gun fires you go. And if the gun doesn't fire, you go anyway."

Each year the runners can depend on hearing Coach Charlie Ward, Sr., calling out splits at the three-mile mark. This year Coach Ward's watch failed and a runner loaned him one on the fly. The Rose City Run protects its traditions.

Chris Lake's titles threaten to become a tradition. The University of Florida medical student took the lead right after the start, with Brian Tackett just off his shoulder for much of the first mile. Before the start of the second mile, though, Tackett could no longer stay with Lake. Leon High School cross-country runner Will Henderson took over the second position, chasing Lake from a distance. Lake steadily pulled away from Henderson, though, and by the four-mile mark had a lead of about 200 yards. Lake ultimately won by over a quarter mile, beating Henderson to the finish line 32:59 to 34:23. Two of Henderson's cross-country teammates at Leon, Zach Buccholz and Jarod Hoffman, took the next two places in 35:25 and 36:27. Tackett, Lake's early challenger, ended the race fifth in 36:28.

While Chris Lake started his Rose City Run career in 2010 with a win, Sheryl Rosen's history at Thomasville's premier race started back in 2006. Since then, Rosen won the women's division in 2007 and took the runner-up spot three times, including a second-place finish to Amy Hines in 2010. Both Hines and Rosen lined up in 2012. Hines led the women's field through the first half of the race, in spite of stopping to tie her shoe on the first mile. Early in the fourth mile, on Pinetree Boulevard, Rosen took over. Rosen may have looked back during the final half of the race, but she didn't have to as she built up a lead of almost 300 yards while putting up a winning time of 36:51. It was the Rose City Run's fastest winning time for a woman since 2001, when Sarah Docter-Williams took the women's title in 36:22. Behind Rosen, Hines placed second in 37:51, and Leon High School cross-country runner Autumn Wable was third in 41:35. Thomasville's Mary Anne Grayson ran 41:59 to finish as the first woman master and fourth woman overall.